arent you tired?

I’m going to replying to this from a perspective of a person who has been out of school for around 3 years now. 

The world isn’t like this. I don’t know if you will believe me when i say, the average person is not worrying about phone brand, online drama/opinions, whether you partake in drugs or not. This is a shrunken and biased view of the world. Children, by definition, have a skewed view of the world. This is not me putting your experiences down. But with school being the main way that children interact with other people, it may make the world seem smaller. And now with social media like TikTok turning school trends into nation wide trends, it makes the world feel microscopic. 

ideas like poverty, consumerism, importance of wealth, is not a post 2010 concept. Nike has existed since the 60’s, before apple - you were poor if you didn’t have a pc or even dial up internet, before the 2000s, there was the 90’s where kids will make fun of you for not having a cool Pokémon. Before social media, kids will still scribble year books to make fun of other kids. Bullying has always existed and always will. These are facts of life. 

If you’re tired. Then become conscious of what causes your pain and make a choice for the better. If you’re tired of the glamour of expensive technology and fashion, no one says you have to participate. If you hate the addiction of social media, show your solidarity by using it less, or cutting it off entirely. These vices will forever be a choice. Learn to moderate yourself or cut it off. I’m assuming you’re still in school and concepts are being learned everyday. The world is much bigger than a cafeteria. I promise you, it’s so much more beautiful than you can ever expect. 

TLDR: understanding what made the past suck is how we make the future better 

Trends come and go, humans adapt. like in the early 00's if you didn't have DSL Broadband you were poor, having a corded landline, poor. Not having a portable media player.

Even if you think this is new, the 00's was worse, that's when most of this began, clothing stores started selling padded bras to kids, the media created the 60-300 second shock content. The current is just an evolution of the past. Sensationalism sells. Hate Sells, just now it's hyper targeted and optimised down to the individual.

Like to be fair the consumerist march has been going on since post WW2 it's just been about shame to push consumption, as shame forces conformity. The conformity then makes it easier to push more and more products. It's a feedback loop, they equated consumer value to freedom making someones idea of spending their idea of freedom, this came after detaching an item from the value of its labour. It's been going on for a long time, long enough to not be able to be called a recent thing

I'm a certified Internet old, and I can safely say that the world isn't so much like that.

But also, in the year 2000, we had all these problems. In certain ways, there was a degree of simplicity: our internet presence wasn't in our pockets, we didn't have marketing beamed directly into our eyeballs under the guises of genuine content (*cough* TikTok *cough*), and it was easier to curate a space.

however...

The Internet was the wild west. It was the age of chat rooms begging "a/s/l" (which you lie about). We still spent hours in a dark room, because that's where the computer was. There were a number of messaging programs (I eventually used Trillium to combine them), because some friends had MSN, some had AIM, and the international crowd used ICQ.

The word "cyberbullying" was reportedly first used in 1998, so there were always shenanigans.

The experience was still--like--not the most social. Like you'd trade off on the computer with your buddy, so if you wanted to chat with your crush and they were online, you'd boot your buddy, log in, and they'd essentially have to fuck off, lol. That's why my computer room had a TV with consoles attached: your buddy could game, watch TV, and text while you hogged the computer.

And I don't think people would like what we had going on then, because we had so many social platforms, and the bulk of it was long-form posting. Typing and reading. We even had a specific term for people who didn't essentially create content, and there was a sense of sheepishness to admit that you were "lurking" on a sub. Like some kind of asshole.

also...

We had stupid trends, but trends are always the same. The arguments for and against uniforms has been the same since before I was born, I reckon. And they obviously don't "prevent bullying", because you'd just get judged on the brand of your socks (yes really) or pen collection. The one difference is that we didn't have every trend to ever exist displayed on a smartphone like that's a normal thing for people to digest. But the potheads smoked, the jocks loved their sneakers, and the art kids shivved each other for Prismacolors.

I Don't disagree. I think many of us remember a "sweet spot" where the internet wasn't so bare bones that it had nothing to offer our daily lives but it had enough to compliment it, whereas these days it feels like it has taken over. 

I remember years ago, when MSN was still a thing... there was a local metal band (they were really good) and they were going to put on a show. Problem is, it wasn't exactly cleared with anyone. The next day there was to be an auction held on the back side of main street, the stage was already set up the night before as well as some of the electrical hook ups. I got a message that night that the band was going to be there around 11pm and perform a guerrilla show. So my friends and I all told our families we were going to visit each other. we walked out, met up at a convenience store and walked together to the show. They performed til the cops arrived and we scattered. was still the best show i've ever been to. These days, a band would be more likely to stream from a garage. even with good music, its replacing the experience instead of enhancing it.

I think with sites like this (those of us backing away from modern social media) are trying to rebalance our lives in such a way that the internet compliments our lives moreso than demanding all of it. That and to also make what time we do spend on the internet more pleasant and fulfilling, instead of being pulled into the dumpster fire of never ending crap throwing. The internet has always had drama sure but... not like this.

As per the "wild west" idea that is brought up all the time. Well that can't be denied. But I don't think that was the appeal. The internet was more compartmentalized. It may have seemed wilder because we all talk amongst our friends and groups differently than we do among the rest of the public. you were a lot more free to say and do stuff because it was like the digital version of being in a room with friends or your community. These days everyone is more careful of what they say, because everything you say is to the public really. Not just because they don't want this group or that group angry at them its just...its not worth the drama and it gets tiring having every little quip that slips from your keyboard put under a microscope.

So like many of you, I want to break away from the algorithm. I want break away from the loop of doomscrolling. I just want to go back to my digital room of friends. It isn't rose tinted goggles, It really was just better. I hope you all find the same.

"These days everyone is more careful of what they say, because
everything you say is to the public really. Not just because they don't
want this group or that group angry at them its just...its not worth the
drama and it gets tiring having every little quip that slips from your
keyboard put under a microscope."

I like the way you put this, because it gets to the heart of an important issue: when we're interacting with friends, there's so much "outer world" context that goes behind what we're saying. Our friends are reading things in our voice, so the sarcasm or jokes go through, and stuff that was worded a bit clumsy is fine. They know what we meant to say; we just phrased something awkwardly once.

But it gets really exhausting to have to write for every single audience you can imagine, and some audiences you can't imagine, just because it's SO public and SO visible.

(I do miss going on AIM or Trillian. I'm in exactly the Sunday evening mood to socialize with buddies on a messenger lol)

I’m going to replying to this from a perspective of a person who has been out of school for around 3 years now. 

The world isn’t like this. I don’t know if you will believe me when i say, the average person is not worrying about phone brand, online drama/opinions, whether you partake in drugs or not. This is a shrunken and biased view of the world. Children, by definition, have a skewed view of the world. This is not me putting your experiences down. But with school being the main way that children interact with other people, it may make the world seem smaller. And now with social media like TikTok turning school trends into nation wide trends, it makes the world feel microscopic. 

ideas like poverty, consumerism, importance of wealth, is not a post 2010 concept. Nike has existed since the 60’s, before apple - you were poor if you didn’t have a pc or even dial up internet, before the 2000s, there was the 90’s where kids will make fun of you for not having a cool Pokémon. Before social media, kids will still scribble year books to make fun of other kids. Bullying has always existed and always will. These are facts of life. 

If you’re tired. Then become conscious of what causes your pain and make a choice for the better. If you’re tired of the glamour of expensive technology and fashion, no one says you have to participate. If you hate the addiction of social media, show your solidarity by using it less, or cutting it off entirely. These vices will forever be a choice. Learn to moderate yourself or cut it off. I’m assuming you’re still in school and concepts are being learned everyday. The world is much bigger than a cafeteria. I promise you, it’s so much more beautiful than you can ever expect. 

TLDR: understanding what made the past suck is how we make the future better 

I’m going to replying to this from a perspective of a person who has been out of school for around 3 years now. 

The world isn’t like this. I don’t know if you will believe me when i say, the average person is not worrying about phone brand, online drama/opinions, whether you partake in drugs or not. This is a shrunken and biased view of the world. Children, by definition, have a skewed view of the world. This is not me putting your experiences down. But with school being the main way that children interact with other people, it may make the world seem smaller. And now with social media like TikTok turning school trends into nation wide trends, it makes the world feel microscopic. 

ideas like poverty, consumerism, importance of wealth, is not a post 2010 concept. Nike has existed since the 60’s, before apple - you were poor if you didn’t have a pc or even dial up internet, before the 2000s, there was the 90’s where kids will make fun of you for not having a cool Pokémon. Before social media, kids will still scribble year books to make fun of other kids. Bullying has always existed and always will. These are facts of life. 

If you’re tired. Then become conscious of what causes your pain and make a choice for the better. If you’re tired of the glamour of expensive technology and fashion, no one says you have to participate. If you hate the addiction of social media, show your solidarity by using it less, or cutting it off entirely. These vices will forever be a choice. Learn to moderate yourself or cut it off. I’m assuming you’re still in school and concepts are being learned everyday. The world is much bigger than a cafeteria. I promise you, it’s so much more beautiful than you can ever expect. 

TLDR: understanding what made the past suck is how we make the future better